1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display panel device and method of fabricating the same, and more particularly, to a plasma display panel device having micro-channels or capillaries connecting an electrode. Although the present invention is suitable for a wide scope of applications, it is particularly suitable for generating a high density ultraviolet (UV) emission, thereby significantly reducing driving voltage and turn-on time.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Plasma display panel ("PDP") devices use gas discharges to convert electric energy into light. Each pixel in a PDP device corresponds to a single gas-discharge site and the light emitted by each pixel is controlled electronically by the video signal that represents the image.
Many structures for color plasma displays have been suggested since the 1980's, but only three are still in contention: the alternating current matrix sustain structure; the alternating current coplanar sustain structure; and the direct current with pulse-memory drive structure.
Generally, PDP is the choice in flat panel display technologies for large size display devices typically larger than 40" diagonal. Extensive research toward the PDP devices has been done to increase brightness, lower driving voltage, and reduce response time of the devices since a proto-type of PDP has been developed. These goals can be achieved by maximizing the efficiency of the UV emission from the glow discharge.
Most of the PDP devices utilizes a high pressure AC barrier type discharge. One example of the conventional high pressure AC barrier type discharge is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,701,056as shown in FIG. 1. A conventional plasma display panel device has a transparent front substrate 101 and a rear substrate 110 facing each other. A plurality of transparent electrodes 102 are formed on each of the front substrate 101, and a bus electrode 111 is on each of the transparent electrodes 102. The transparent electrode 102 and the bus electrodes 111 are covered with a thick insulating layer 103 and a protection layer 104 in this order. The transparent insulating layer 103 and the protection layer 104 comprises lead glass having a low fusing point and magnesium oxide (MgO).
A plurality of data electrodes 108 are formed on the rear substrate 110. A plurality of chambers 112 are defined by first, second, and third partition walls 105a, 105b (not shown), and 106, and the first and third partition walls have widths W.sub.H and W.sub.D, respectively. A white-color insulating layer 107 is formed on the rear substrate 110 including the data electrode 108. Further, a fluorescent material 109 is formed on the third partition wall 106 and the white-color insulating layer 107.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,414,324 has suggested another structure for generating a high pressure glow discharge plasma as shown in FIG. 2. An electrode 10 is made of copper plate having a representative square plan dimension of 25 cm.times.25 cm. The integral metallic units comprising plates 10 and tubing 11 are covered with a high dielectric insulating layer 14. In this structure, the dielectric insulating layer 14 is to prevent a high current arc mode from the discharge. However, the dielectric insulating layer 14 consumes a large amount of the electric field. Moreover, a significant fraction of the electric field is applied across the dielectric insulating layer, so that the electric field cannot be applied effectively throughout the PDP device.